BOE awards $28.7 million in school contracts

The Hartselle Board of Education has awarded $28.7 million in bid packages to contractors for the new Hartselle High School.

The bid includes construction of the 250,000-square-foot facility, plumbing, air conditioning, ball fields and fire protection system. That leaves roughly about $6 million left for the electrical work, kitchen equipment, tennis court lighting, theatrical equipment and landscaping, according to project manager Brian Moore of Martin and Cobey Construction.

“I expect this project to be in budget,” Moore said.

Moore said they have been working within the means of the state’s public works law, which says the school system cannot negotiate more than 10 percent of the total bid if there more than one bid is received. If only one bid is submitted, the school system can reject the bid and negotiate with that bidder as long as the price is lower than the bid.

Multiple bids were received on the overall project with the lowest being $39.3 million from Ra-Lin Associates of Carrolton, Ga., but most of the individual projects received one or no bids.

Moore said that gave the school system the chance to negotiate with individual contractors on the individual projects.

The only individual projects that received multiple bids were plumbing and HVAC, with the low bidder receiving the contract.

In cases where there was no bidder, Moore said he contacted other companies whose bids were included with other companies.

“We were very diligent (negotiating with bidders),” Moore said. “We talked to the state and followed the letter of the law.”

The entire project is projected to cost $40 million with roughly $34 million set aside for school construction. The rest of the money is being spent on site preparation.

Bid overview

What was awarded?

Bid Package 2: Civil Package – Baggette Construction for $1,533,687

Bid Package 3: Environmental – Baggette Construction for $200,134

Bid Package 4-5: Ball Fields and Fence – Coston Construction for $690,450

Bid Package 8: General trades (actual school construction) – Baggette Construction for $18,162,022

Bid Package 9: Fire Protection – Baggette Construction for $314,283

Bid Package 10: Plumbing –JK Johnson Constuction for $1,205,248

Bid Package 11: HVAC – Smith Service Corp. for $6,596,299

What’s left?

Bid Package 6: Tennis court lighting

Bid Package 7: Landscaping

Bid Package 12: Electrical

Bid Package 13: Kitchen equipment

Bid Package 14: Theatrical equipment

Note: Bid Package 1 was already awarded for site work.